Design for the Developing World Conference

As someone who has had the opportunity to experience a portion of my life in the developing world, namely the Caribbean and Brazil, I have been following some of the outcomes from the Design for the Developing World Conference.

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, from my experience living in the developing world made a very valid point. The real secret is the combination of design, communications, and implementation. Good design can add real value to our experience of the world but it is equally important that developing nations have information on how any designed solution can benefit the consumer, where to find these products, and to also make sure we design the distribution systems so that good design is accessible to people.

He also alluded to the idea that Philanthropy by itself does not have the power to make system wide change in the developing world but businesses can because businesses inherently build the systems that enable people to access good design.